Brief to the Committee from UNICEF
CHILD RIGHTS:
REGIONAL OVERVIEW—THE
MIDDLE EAST
AND NORTH
AFRICA
Violence against children constitutes a problem
throughout the Middle East and North Africa and takes many forms.
Because research has tended to focus on specific kinds of violence
in limited geographical areas, it is not possible to know the
full scope of the problem. And because of a general acceptance
of some forms of violence and a fear of throwing light on others,
there is great reluctance to talk publicly about violence against
children. As a result, information is often incomplete and, even
where data are collected or surveys undertaken, people may not
reveal all they know or think.
Factors contributing to violence in the region
include poor long-term or temporary economic conditions, the impact
of conflict or occupation, problems in the family such as marriage
break-ups or separation and prevalent cultural beliefs and gender
discrimination. Children are also vulnerable because they are
children: they are expected not to retaliate and to accept violence
as part of the adult/child relationship.
In the home and family:
— There is widespread use of violence as
"discipline" in families in the Middle East and North
Africa. `Family' includes not only parents but members of the
extended family and indeed others who may be said to part of family
life and relations.
— In Syria, more than 90% of children polled
said they had experienced verbal abuse and insults. Some 79% of
the children reported being beaten. In most cases it is the mother
who inflicts the violence.
— In Yemen, violence is the most common
form of punishment of children in the home. Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan
and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council all report violence
against children in the home.
— An estimated 90% of women in Sudan, Djibouti
and Egypt have been subjected to female genital mutilation/cutting,
while in Yemen the figure is put at 25%.
— Early marriage is also a common practice
throughout the region. While Libya has set the legal age for marriage
at 20, Algeria at 19, and Djibouti, Palestine, Morocco and Jordan
at 18, in most countries the legal age of marriage is low—in
Sudan, for example, the minimum age for marriage of both boys
and girls is 10 years.
— The association of family honour with
a woman's sexual conduct frequently leads also to what is called
"honour crime" but which in fact is a most severe form
of violence against young women. "Honour killing" is
rarely talked about. Jordan has been one of the few countries
to have prompted public debate on this issue. Statistics there
suggest that some 25 young women are killed every year in honour
crimes, one-third of all reported murder cases.
In schools:
— The Committee on the Rights of the Child
has expressed its concern about the wide use of corporal punishment
in the region's schools, even where it is officially banned.
— In Syrian schools the most prevalent
form of violence is that inflicted on students by teachers and
administrative personnel. In general, psychological violence is
the most prevalent form of "discipline" used, as teachers
insult students and humiliate them, but beatings are also frequent.
— In Lebanon, despite a ministerial decree
banning corporal punishment in schools, the practice is still
allowed in law and continues, especially in government schools.
— In Palestinian schools, corporal punishment
is regularly used, as it is in Iran, where students report that
children from poor backgrounds are particularly targeted.
In institutions:
— Children admitted to punitive institutions
have not necessarily done anything wrong. They may be sent to
such institutions because no alternatives exist. In Yemen, for
example, children who have been sexually abused in the home may
find themselves in a reform institution because they have been
removed from the family and admitted to the justice system. Reports
show that they are at risk there of sexual abuse by guards and
teachers as well as older children.
— A 2004 report on rehabilitation institutions
in Damascus, Syria, indicated that a high percentage of children
are subjected to different forms of psychological and physical
violence, including sexual violence. The living conditions and
services were also reported to be poor.
— A Human Rights Watch report on children
in conflict with the law in Egypt documented violence against
children during arrest or transfer to custodial institutions.
Often the children were transferred with adults who also subjected
them to violence, including sexual violence.
In the community:
— In Egypt, anyone under the age of 18
who does not have a permanent shelter to live in or a legal source
of income is classified as potentially deviant and can be arrested.
In Jordan and Lebanon, the law describes child beggars as "deviant".
— It is impossible to consider community-level
violence in this region without taking into account the impact
of conflict and occupation on children, their families and the
communities they live in.
— The Committee on the Rights of the Child
has expressed its concern that, while Israeli children are deemed
to be children up to the age of 18, Palestinian children are subject
to Israeli military law that allows them to be detained as young
as 12 and treated as adults when they reach 16. The Committee
has also expressed concern that the Israeli authorities use torture
to interrogate Palestinian children.
— House demolitions, the death of the family
breadwinner, men's increasing sense of frustration as a result
of exceedingly high unemployment and restricted mobility all contribute
to a context where domestic and communal violence are nurtured.
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme has reported that men
who are detained and subjected to torture frequently return home
and use violence as a means of imposing their dominance on their
wives and children.
In workplaces:
— Child domestic labour is common throughout
the region including in some of the wealthier countries, including
the Gulf States, where children are brought in from poorer countries
to work in domestic service. These children come from other Middle
Eastern countries but also from South Asia, for example Sri Lanka.
— Children in domestic labour are not only
frequently exploited, they are also at very high risk of violence.
Hidden behind the doors of an employer's home, children in domestic
labour or even those of legal working age are beaten, burned and
humiliated not only by the adults of the family but often by the
children too, and even by other domestic helpers.
— When they reach the legal minimum working
age, young children are still at risk just because they are young
and inexperienced. They are beaten by bosses and co-workers if
they make mistakes or do not work fast or well enough. They may
be harassed, especially girls. Invariably, too, throughout the
region children who are working do not enjoy the labour rights
that other workers do. They are often badly paid and are sometimes
not paid at all.
— Many children are sent into child domestic
labour not only because their parents hope to receive some income
from the child's labour, but because the family is relieved of
the "burden" of housing and feeding the child. Many
parents explain their decision to send a girl, especially, into
domestic service as "education", claiming that the girl
will learn valuable skills that will serve her well when she marries.
— Children from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
have also traditionally been brought into the region to work as
camel jockeys in the camel races of Qatar, Oman and the United
Arab Emirates. In recent years international campaigns to end
this have resulted in government action to legislate against this
dangerous practice.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Foreign Affairs Committee
should ensure that the issue of children's rights (alongside those
of human rights and the promotion of democracy) is included in
the follow-up work to its 2007 inquiry into the Middle East and
that it is also given greater prominence in this year's edition
of the FCO report on human rights.
25 February 2009
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